


the five rules for dating bruce wayne

by behradtarazi



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Established Relationship, Light Angst, M/M, POV Clark Kent, Relationship Study, a look at bruce + dating bruce through clark's eyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:41:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24627172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/behradtarazi/pseuds/behradtarazi
Summary: There’s this look Bruce gets, though - No. There’s this look Batman gets, and it cuts to the bone, and it makes you wonder just how dark the world would be if the Bat ever killed.It’s important, knowing that it’s Batman and not Bruce who looks like that. A basic rule for loving him, Clark thinks. There are a few unspoken rules like that. Clark isn’t sure that he’s the first person to ever make them. He hopes he’ll get to be the last.-Clark's five rules for dating Bruce Wayne.
Relationships: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 14
Kudos: 181





	the five rules for dating bruce wayne

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bigstarkenergy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigstarkenergy/gifts).



Everybody in Gotham City knows Bruce Wayne’s name.

No, scratch that: everybody in America knows Bruce Wayne’s name.

And everybody in the world knows Batman’s.

It can be a little intimidating, loving a man like that. Clark knows that has to sound ridiculous, coming from him. He is _ Superman _ , after all, the Man of Steel, faster than a speeding bullet - you get the idea.

But Bruce is different.

Even when you put Clark in the cape, he’s still human, for the most part, as much as someone who's literally not human can be. Still a Kansas boy at heart, still the one who walks to the office every day and flies to his Ma’s house as often as he can.

Bruce has that, too. Sometimes. Sometimes he’s the Gothamite, the man with the slow smiles and a gaggle of kids who’s gotten his butler Father’s Day presents for the past twenty-something years.

But only sometimes.

There are hundreds of versions of him inside one body, ever-changing and mixing together, and Clark loves every single one of them. He does. He does. There’s this look Bruce gets, though - No. There’s this look  _ Batman  _ gets, and it cuts to the bone, and it makes you wonder just how dark the world would be if the Bat ever killed. 

It’s important, knowing that it’s Batman and not Bruce who looks like that. A basic rule for loving him, Clark thinks. There are a few unspoken rules like that. Clark isn’t sure that he’s the first person to ever make them. He hopes he’ll get to be the last.

  1. Learn the difference between Bruce and Brucie and Batman. 



Bruce is the orphan boy who nearly died in a dark alleyway. Brucie is the billionaire playboy with the brilliant smile. Batman is the monster who haunts Gotham’s streets, hero and nightmare. They are not the same. You cannot love them the same. That will tear you apart.

Bruce is quiet nights in Wayne Manor and rumpled hair, reading late into the night and giving Clark a sleepy smile when he finds him in the library.

Brucie is charity galas in shiny highrises and the smell of champagne, pulling Clark into his arms from behind and pressing kisses to the side of his neck. 

Batman is long patrols in brutal storms and pained silence, kissing Clark fiercely like a punch and leaving him with the taste of blood in his mouth.

None of them are easy. None of them are without their sharp edges and shattered points.

None of them will betray Clark or abandon him, none of them will leave him alone to hurt. They will always be there, steady and strong, and in those moments Clark finds he loves Batman most, something he’s never thought he would say before. 

And it’s all because of this:

  1. Remember that it is okay to be brutal, too. 



Never try to paint a perfect picture of yourself and leave out the flaws. He’ll hate the lies, and he can take anything you give him. Anything.

(He will always try to be Atlas for people he loves, and Clark can’t help but adore that, how much he cares, even if it’s flawed and silent and occasionally damn near invisible. He does his best, though sometimes it’s not good enough.)

Clark doesn’t have to be Superman with him. He doesn’t have to be a god or a hero or anything special. He can just be himself. He can rage and sob and feel so much that he thinks his heart is going to burst and he can feel nothing at all, and Bruce won’t look away, not even for a moment. Not even for a moment.

Clark’s been loved before, but that - that is something special. Something new. Something perfect. It’s comforting, being seen like that, being understood and adored not in spite of it, but because of it, partially. 

And it’s a feeling he wants Bruce to have, too, and so he learns:

  1. Know when to go and when to stay. 



There are times to push through layers and layers of walls and there are times to draw a line in the sand and steadfastly refuse to cross it. 

Clark has learned that the hard way, because Bruce is not gentle in his pain. His explosions are always self contained, but he will use every weapon in his arsenal to keep you away from the blow, and he knows what hurts. He knows what works. There are times when he needs you there and is just too scared to admit it, and there are times when he is being the world’s biggest douchebag and you don’t have to put up with it. You don’t.

He’ll respect that, when his mind has cleared, when he has returned to his usual cold logic. He’s learning to apologize, and he will try, words a little unsteady and a little unsure, genuine care in every hesitation. Clark starts to fall all over again every time, watching Bruce try to show just how much he loves him.

Still, he likes it better when he stays. Well, likes isn’t exactly the word for it, but he feels better about it, when he can do for Bruce what he does for him, when he can try to help him. When he can hold him. Just hold him.

The first time he ever saw Bruce cry, Jason was dead and Clark didn’t know what to do, but here’s the thing. Here’s the thing, the most important thing, the rule that means the most to Clark even if it shouldn’t:

  1. Love him. 



Really, truly love him, because that is a man who has had his heart broken a few too many times, and Clark thinks that if he has to see his eyes hollow like that even just once more, his heart might break, too.

Loving Bruce does that to you.

Loving Bruce is like flying faster than light. Like holding up the world on unbreakable shoulders. Like invulnerability or weakness, or both at the same time.

Bruce is beautiful and terrible and human and monstrous all at once, and there is no one like him. There will never be anyone like him. No one could ever replace a man like that, no matter how hard they tried. No matter how hard they tried.

He is beautiful and terrible and human and monstrous all at once, and there is no one like him, and when he leaves he will leave you aching and yearning and wanting more, even if he doesn’t mean to. Especially if he doesn’t mean to.

And so, that leads to the first and the last rule:

  1. Do not be afraid to grieve him.



He is very human. He is fleeting and impermanent and all the more beautiful because of it.

He is waiting to die.

And you can’t spend your whole life waiting for him to miraculously come back. You can’t. You can’t. 

Clark can’t.

Do not be afraid to grieve him.


End file.
